Robert Stack

Born Jan. 13, 1919 in Los Angeles, CA, Stack started life as Charles Langford Modini Stack, the second of two boys in his family. His parents divorced when he was a toddler, and his mother Elizabeth took him to Europe, where he stayed until around the age of six. Stack's stay on the continent provided him the ability to speak fluent French and Italian; in fact, he spoke no English until his return to the United States. Upon his arrival back in the U.S., Stack's parents remarried, but father Charles - a wealthy real estate investor - passed away when Stack was just nine. Stack's mother, who came from a show business family, was close to various Hollywood leading men (including Clark Gable and...